X-Mercs Arc: Author's Notes and Book One
by Nighteyes27
Summary: The Chosen Five are gathered: stars Moonstar, Domino, Iceman, Shadowcat and Avalanche


Author's Notes  
  
Hi, people, my name is Meg, and you can reach me at MegCA86@aol.com with questions, flames, comments and ideas. That being said, I would like to say that the idea for this fic kinda springboarded off of the AoA X-Calibre series. My idea was: What would the MU be like today if Destiny and Stonewall hadn't died at Muir? It would have major ramifications, everywhere. Mystique wouldn't be the crazed killer she is portrayed as today, Freedom Force might still be active, and THAT universe would be quite different than the current one. However, since I don't feel up to rewriting about ten years of Marvel history, I've don it a simpler way: I've resurrected certain influential people in certain positions. However, it was for a definite purpose decreed by the Fates, and, as you'll see, there are definite strings attached.  
  
Continuity Notes: This takes place during the six-month Revolution gap, and springs from there. Basically, everything up to Revolution is canon, and then I branch off.   
  
~Kitty Pryde doesn't meet/date Seth the Neo (in fact, for my arc, there's no such thing as the Neo).  
~The new Thunderbird, Neal Sharra, doesn't join the team.  
~Moonstar is not going to college, nor does she join the X-Men.  
~Domino never acquired 'Junior,' nor is Marcus Tsung after her, nor did the botched mission happen.  
~I am using Robert Weinberg's excuse from Cable #85-6 to explain how Rachel Summers is in our timeline, hardly aged, and Illyana's excuse you will see.  
~In my timeline, the Phoenix Force never left Rachel-her codename is still Phoenix. Jean's will change.  
~The "Black Sun" and "Magik" LS's didn't happen; however, Amanda Sefton is the new Magik, guardian of Limbo, and all former Excalibur members know it (basically, Kitty, Peter, Kurt, Brian and Meggan).  
~Avalanche is cooling his heels in house arrest after his little escapade in X-Factor #109.  
~There is no new Brotherhood of Mutants run by Mystique.  
~Cyclops, when he merged with Apocalypse, is dead. I have no plans now to incorporate Apocalypse into this story arc as of now, but if and when I do, Cyclops will be dead as a doornail.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters herein. Marvel owns them all, although I *wish* I had these characters (the things I would do with Iceman in particular....). I'm making no money off this, no copyright infringement intended. However, the plot herein is mine, as are self-created characters. The only ones that I have, as of now, are Shadow, the foot soldiers (sarcastically named X-Pendables), and Arkanon. New characters will be noted.

Book One: Chosen  
  
Summary: The Chosen are gathered....  
  
Rating: PG-13 for language  
  
Chapter One: Nine Lives  
  
'Shit!' Katherine Pryde, known to the world as Shadowcat, cursed to herself. 'Note to self: next time you engage in a program in the Danger Room when you know you're not at your peak, don't disengage the safeties! Or at least have someone spotting you!'  
Kitty snorted at that thought. She had been trained by Wolverine, and the man worked up a sweat by disengaging the safeties. His protege felt she could do no less.  
Thoughts of her former mentor sobered her. Though taking out her anger on one of Ogun's ninjas was fun, it was doing nothing for her state of mind-or her emotions. Emotions that had been precarious since Pete Wisdom had walked out on Kitty, because they realized the relationship they had was pretty much dying.  
A ninja sliced at her. Kitty, distracted, phased through the blade. It cut her.  
'What?' she though, before remembering that she had programmed the Danger Room to try and negate any advantage her powers gave her. Slowly but surely, it was doing so. Realizing that her shot concentration was going to get her killed, Kitty grimaced.  
"End program!" Kitty snapped, annoyed with herself for not making it through what she would have considered a routine program, normally.  
She stalked over to the exit, not bothering to listen to the computer's analysis of her performance (knowing that it was gonna be sucky), grabbed her towel, and exited the Danger Room. She stomped down the corridor and phased into the locker room. Turning on a shower, she finally let herself react to the day's events. Hot tears splashed down her face, but she refused to admit it to herself, insisting it was shower spray and nothing more.  
Shampooing her hair, she was momentarily startled to find that it was about two feet shorter than normally. Snorting, she recalled this morning's fight with Logan and Ororo.  
It should have been nothing major, really. The only ones in the house when she returned from the hair salon and piercing place had been Ororo, Logan, Kurt, and Piotr. "Well, how does it look?" she asked gaily, twirling around.  
Kurt had looked at her, depressed, and simply said, "It looks good, _katzchen_." Then, with a stench of brimstone and a BAMF!, he was gone.  
Kitty didn't blame him, really. She knew he was still brooding over his recent decision to join the priesthood, and subsequent breakup with his longtime girlfriend and one true love, Amanda Sefton, or the new Magik.  
Peter, on the other hand, had taken one look at her and he had run off to his room. Bemused, she had called after him, "Where are you going?"  
Peter skidded to a halt for a fraction of a second. Running back to her, the man codenamed Colossus grabbed her in a bear hug. Sweeping Kitty of her feet, her whirled her around as he danced for joy.  
Kitty, meanwhile, was asphyxiating. Plus, she did a slow inner burn, as she could practically feel Ororo's, and, to a lesser extent, Logan's approving eyes on her. She knew they still saw her, somewhat, as the naive, shy girl who came to the Xavier Mansion at thirteen and fell for the literal knight in shining armor. They hadn't seen her much as a part of Excalibur, nor as Pete Wisdom's lover, and consequently, she knew, a little part of them would always expect her with Peter.  
Kitty phased through Peter's arms, purple in the face, and demanded, "Peter?"  
"You have given me back my Muse, Katya!" he exulted. "I must record it...all the colors...." And sprinting down the hall, Peter disappeared into his room and the waiting arms of his canvas and paints.  
Kitty sighed, facing her surrogate parents. One eyebrow lifted in supplication. "Like?" she had half-asked, half-pleaded. Ororo's eyebrows had raised and Logan had grunted. Kitty knew the clues well and girded her loins for...something she wasn't sure exactly how to define.  
And it had come. Shadowcat cringed. Thinking about their fight was just too painful. The wound, only hours old, was still raw. Their discussion had degenerated into an argument, which ended up with Kitty screaming at them that she hated them and never wanted to see them again, and storming off, phasing through the wall, oblivious to their hurt and thunderstruck (Ororo) and half-angry and regretful (Logan) expressions. Some really old bones of contention had been brought up, including the supposed death of the X-Men at Dallas. Unknowingly, Kitty had touched a nerve, and they threw back at her what seemed like every mistake she ever made, including taking potshots at Pete Wisdom. Kitty became enraged, seeing this as an attack on her independence (and in a way, it was).  
Kitty, disgusted at life in general and her own loss of control in particular, turned off the shower and opened her locker. Dressing quickly, she pulled on underwear, a bra, faded sweatpants and a blue T-shirt that had the X-Men's 'X' logo in the shoulder. Comfortable attire for someone who wanted to stomp off to her room, which was distressingly empty ('Because everyone who's ever cared about you has left you,' and insidious voice whispered inside her head) and mope around for a while.  
Walking down the hall, the hair on the nape of her neck lifted. She stopped and used every sense to the fullest, trying to locate the source of her uneasiness. 'I know the Mansion is home and has a perimeter line that God himself couldn't breach...so why do I feel so wary?' she asked herself after she stood still for about five minutes and detected nothing.  
She should have listened to her instincts...she didn't see the portal open up behind her, or the black-gloved hands grab her and inject a serum into her veins. Blacking out immediately, she didn't see her or her unknown assailant melt into the shadows and disappear, with her in tow.  
  
Chapter Two: Frost-byte  
  
'Damn this computer!' Bobby Drake thought heatedly to himself as the computer fritzed out on him for the millionth time.  
'God, this bites,' he snarled to himself. He had recently gone to work for an accounting firm to support his parents...and he could admit it to himself that it was boring him to death.  
'I got so used to being an X-Man-what was I expecting, I've been a superhero almost my entire life-and I think I got addicted to the adrenaline rush. Well, duh, Drake! You can't be an X-Man without being an adrenaline junkie.'  
Shoving appealing 2 AM thoughts of the X-Women (and the White Queen in particular-he'd had weird feelings for her ever since their almost kiss) in spandex out of his mind, he realized that he'd need a new Microsoft program to continue working on the account. [Author's Note: The almost kiss happened in GenX #57]  
'You can get that at Costco, and they'd be open now,' the workaholic part of his brain whispered, because he knew he needed this account by 4 PM later on in the day.  
Snarling, he stalked to the door. Scrawling a note to his parents about where he had gone (it was 2 AM, after all, he wasn't going to wake them up), he stalked out the door, into his car and was gone. 'Damn friggin' computers,' he cussed to himself. 'I swear, if Mom and Dad didn't need the extra income, I'd be back at the mansion helping Jeannie.'  
'Jean....' and his thoughts wandered to the flame-haired telepath who had lost half of her soul so recently. He desperately wished he could be there to help her through her tough time, but he had responsibilities at home.  
'Even when you've had as rocky a home life as me?' a voice whispered inside of him. He grimaced and stepped on the gas.  
Driving fast and furious, he didn't see the black portal open up under him. His first feeling was of falling-though the car?!?!  
'What the fuck?....' was all he had time to think. He tried to ice up...and *couldn't*! 'Oh, shit....' he swore.  
Then, as a black-gloved hand met the back of his neck, he felt nothing at all.  
  
Chapter Three: Abandoned, Not Alone  
  
Dani Moonstar grinned and yelled in Domino's ear. "This place is awesome!" Domino grinned in return. "I hoped you'd like it!"  
They were both at a crossroads now, after X-Force had abandoned them, and were deciding what they wanted to do. In the meantime, however, they had decided they wanted some fun. So Dom had taken Dani to a popular club she knew of, hoping the Cheyenne girl would have fun. And she was.  
Dani was legal-barely-and she and Dom had gotten by the bouncers with ease, Dom's alias her well-known Tamara Winter persona. Now, they were dancing easily to the beat of the music, very close.  
Dani turned her back to Dom and the two mimicked the others' actions, almost grinding pelvises. Turning around, Dani laughed as Dom swirled her around and dipped her.  
Sweating and shaking, the two retired to a back table. Dom was just having fun, sensing in Dani a bit of a kindred spirit, and Dani was opening up in kind, surprised that Dom was being this...friendly...but not letting the opportunity to get to know her mysterious mentor better go to waste. 'And I'm not about to let an entirely *different* opportunity go to waste, either....' Dani thought as she smirked at Dom. Dom leered back, and her eyes flashed.  
However, before they could talk much, a black-shrouded man tapped them both on the shoulder.  
"Come with me, Mrs. Winter and Ms. Moonstar...or should I say...Moonstar and Domino of X-Force?" This said low enough to only reach their ears.  
Both sets of eyes, one a rich chocolate brown, the other amethyst purple, widened. Without looking at each other, Dom fingered a knife hidden up her jacket sleeve and a concealed gun at her side, while Dane discreetly started to summon some quantum energy.  
The man behind the black cowl didn't give them time needed to prepare. "Move. Now."  
Getting up, they followed his prodding to a deserted corridor in the back of the club. Turning to face their assailant, Dom began with, "Who-?" but got no further as a mental bolt robbed them of consciousness.  
The figure in black chuckled. "We have four. Soon we will have the fifth...and then it will begin."  
  
Chapter Four: House Arrest  
  
Dominic Petros stretched. 'God, I *hate* being under house arrest. It's boring. It's insane.'  
'I knew the consequences. So what propelled me to follow that bitch Raven to kill Legion? She was ever a good leader, but still, I shoulda known better! Although it *was* fun to bait Val.'  
'Damn. Raven and her damn plan for vengeance against Legion. God, why won't she just get *over* Destiny already? Admittedly, the two *were* head over heels in love with each other, but it had been like a year and a half, at least! She shoulda tried to stop killing the fucking bastard-of course, he *was* responsible for Stonewall and Destiny's deaths. I dunno. Mystique should just move on. It earned her a stint with the damn government's lapdogs, the assholes that made up X-Factor. That arrogant brat Havok, his whiny concubine Polaris, the idiot Strong Guy, naive Wolfsbane, fucking damned bastard Forge, Val, and I think...Wildchild?'  
Getting up (after a year of house arrest occasionally disturbed by missions), brooding was getting old. He was *bored*, and sometimes suspected that was the point of house arrest-to bore the offending parties to death. His thoughts turned to Pyro as he mechanically started making a roast beef sandwich. 'God, I wonder how Johnny's doing. I haven't been allowed contact with him-or any other former member of the Brotherhood or Freedom Force, for that matter.'  
Lost in his thoughts, Avalanche didn't see the shadowy figure lurk up behind him and clobber him with a club.  
The shadowy figure smiled.  
  
Interlude: Captives  
  
"Where the hell am I?" Avalanche demanded as he sat up. Skull throbbing, he took stock of his situation.  
He was dressed in something that resembled a Speedo and nothing else. He was chained, spread-eagled, onto a wall. However, he could still feel his hands and feet, which told him he hadn't been out that long. Examining his manacle, he saw it was made of a metal he couldn't immediately recognize.  
"Nice way to wake up, isn't it?" a sarcastic voice called from his right. Dominic looked up.  
He saw four other figures chained, like him, to the wall. The circular steel room was big enough that he could see everyone without straining his neck. There was a cold steel floor under them, but, even if he craned his neck back, he couldn't see the top of the steel...'Tube, I guess is the right word for it,' Dominic thought.  
'Why are the four of *us* here?' was his first thought.  
The sarcastic voice belonged to a figure he knew well. Bobby Drake, the Iceman. Shaggy brown hair partially covered his brown eyes. Looking to Bobby's right, staring straight ahead, he saw Kitty Pryde, better known as Shadowcat. Short brown hair and multiple ear piercings surprised him-it was so different from her last look-but a glance at smoldering brown eyes convinced him to hold his tongue. To Kitty's right was an albino woman with raven hair, violet eyes, and a black patch of a tattoo over her left eye. She looked older than him, and dangerous. Avalanche didn't know her. Finally, to Avalanche's left, there was another woman he didn't know. She looked to be younger than he was, with midnight-black hair, chocolate eyes, and skin the color of coffee with half a dozen milk packets poured in.  
Naturally, all five were wearing inhibitor collars-though he didn't know the two women, since he knew that Drake and Pryde were mutants, he would've guessed that the other two were mutants as well. He and Drake were wearing Speedo-style briefs made of some strange fabric. The women were wearing the same thing, plus some things resembling sports bras cut from the same cloth.  
"Just so we all know each other," Kitty Pryde said. "I am Shadowcat. Clockwise from me are Iceman, Avalanche, Moonstar and Domino."  
'Clever girl,' Dominic thought. 'Trying to protect our "secret identities."'  
Three claps came from somewhere none of them could see. "Bravo, Shadowcat," a voice said, and a shiver ran down Avalanche's back.  
The voice was silky smooth, calm, yet malevolent. It was definitely male.  
"I see that you are trying to eliminate identification of yourselves by using your codenames. Good thought, girl, but I know all of you already...save one."  
A man fell down from the ceiling (presumably there was one), landing softly on his feet, like a cat. A purple tunic was splendid over a royal blue long-sleeved T-shirt. A leather belt wrapped around his waist and held many pouches. Brown-gray wool leggings disappeared into dark brown leather boots. 'He looks like he just stepped out of the Middle Ages,' Avalanche realized.  
Apparently, he wasn't the only one to have that thought. "Hate to inform you, pal," Domino challenged him, "but that style went out around eight hundred years ago, or so."  
The man looked as if he hadn't heard her. "My name is Lord Arkanon. This is my associate, Shadow."  
A man dressed in all black fell as the first man had, landing with the same feline grace. There was no part of him left uncovered by black cloth. He looked like a grim reaper.  
"Now, as to all of you...." he trailed off. "Shadowcat-Katherine Pryde. Iceman-Robert Drake. Avalanche-Dominic Petros. Moonstar-Danielle Moonstar. And...the mysterious *Domino*!"  
His fingers gently traced the outline of the black dot around her eyes. She shivered. In his eyes, she saw many different things. His touch was repelling...yet, strangely hypnotic.  
"Many aliases, you know," he said conversationally. "Tamara Winter, Beatrice, Nina, to name but a few. You are an...intriguing woman, Domino. I look forward to getting to know you."  
With that, he dropped his hand, clicked his heels once, jumped, and kept going up. Shadow followed.  
"Ummm...." Drake drawled as everyone looked at him, beginning to realize the pickle they were in. "There's no place like home?"


End file.
